25 years in the heart of Kensington

Our family-run nursery school has strong links to local primary schools, both state and private.

Enriching curriculum

Harnessing the natural curiosity of each child, the Montessori method inspires and motivates.

Tailored Learning

We match learning to children. Different child? Different technique. Fascinated by something? So are we.

Social Skills

Children develop confidence, imagination, kindness, and the ability to collaborate, negotiate and reason.

Collaboration and support

Children, school and family work together towards the same goals. Our teachers (all with Montessori diplomas) are there to support you and your child.

About us

Who We Are

Gardens Montessori was established in 1989 and is a family-run business. Situated in the heart of Kensington, Gardens Montessori has two Montessori nurseries which provide the highest standard of early years Montessori education from ages two to five.

What We Do

We help children grow into mindful, confident, independent individuals with an enduring love for learning.

Teacher to little girl: “What is a caterpillar?”
“It is a cat that turns into a butterfly. Cat-er-pillar”

Whilst making her map of Europe, a girl was asked by her teacher:
“Which country do you think the Eiffel Tower is from?”
“Ummm. Eiffel-land?”

Two and a half year old girl walking to first day of school with her mother: “I’m so tired I can’t think. Will this be a problem?”

Twin sisters talking about going to primary school:
First twin: “You know, next year at ‘Big Girl School’ we get to wear a dress every day!”
Second twin: “But, it’s the SAME dress every day”
First twin: “Oh — that’s not good!”

At harvest: “When I give things away, I feel happier.”

“Stop in the name of the law of gravity”

“My mummy married in Sweden and I had to wait a year until I came out”

During Summer School on Ancient Egypt:
“When you’re dead, you don’t move and you wrap yourself with toilet paper. Actually…. (pause for a few seconds), toilet paper it was just to show us. It’s called Ancient Egypt. I’ll show you when you’re dead”….

Little boy coming down the stairs with a sore thumb: “I’ve hurt my fum.”
Lunch bunch boy at bottom of stairs begins to sing: “Old Macdonald had a fum.”

Little boy before the concert: “Sing so your parents’ hearts fill with happiness”
Second little boy: “Their hearts will fill with blood”

Little girl: “My great, great, great, great grandfather went to heaven.”
Miss Emily: “What about your great grandfather?”.
Child thinks…”I think he went to another country.”

Little girl: “I speak so many languages – French, English, American and Babyish”

Miss Felicity: “What do you want to be in the school concert?”
“Spiderman!”
“Do you want to be a king spiderman or a shepherd spiderman?”
Long pause:
“Spiderman spiderman”
(Child: 1, Miss Felicity: 0 !!)

Miss Felicity to little boy: “You are sweet enough to eat. Can I eat you?”
Serious answer: “No. Have a bite of my biscuit.”

“Miss Charlotte, what is this called?”
“Fairy Liquid”
“How do the fairies make it?”

Little boy when asked by his mother to show his sister around the classroom: “She has eyes.”

Little boy talking to teacher about the fact that she is pregnant and the baby is in her tummy: “Why did you eat your baby?”

My birthday is far away. We have to get a bus to get to January!

“First, I’m going to be a builder, then a doctor, then a chef, then a grown-up.”

Little boy looking at a book with the planets of the solar system:
“I can’t live on Earth because it is too blue and cold, not on Jupiter because it is too orange, I can’t get into Saturn because of the rings- that’s why I live on Venus.”

Doing the timeline of her life a little girl asked by her teacher: “What did you turn after two?” replied “Left”

Doing insect terminology cards, discussing why the insect had legs towards the top of its body: “I know why – in case he wants to do a headstand.”

Teacher discussing Thanksgiving: “What would you like to give thanks for? Little girl:”Frogs! “Why frogs?” “Because when you kiss them they turn into princes”

“We have to draw a map so we know what planet we’re on”

Little girl: “The baby is sleeping at home because Mummy says we’ve got to keep it”

“My Mummy cried on my first day at school so I had to take her home.”

“My sister is growing bigger and bigger like me and I’m growing bigger and bigger like you. Miss Emily”

Teacher to little girl: “What do you like about the school?”
“The teachers.”
“Why do you like the teachers?”
“Because they love me.”

Not for the first time, little girl says: “I love everything about Iverna Gardens.”
Mother: “Is there really nothing you don’t like about Iverna Gardens?”
Pause… little girl: “Well, it doesn’t have a fireman’s pole.”

“I’m a bit tired. My mummy woke me up at midnight because it was already morning.”

“You’re the best teacher in the whole world. The world is nice because of you.”

“Daddy, I have to go to school now”
“But, it’s six in the morning!”
“Yes, but I’m very busy.”

“You know I miss my grandparents.”
Teacher: “Where do they live?”
“They live on holidays.”

The teacher is at the door greeting the children and one of the older boys walks in, shaking hands firmly with her, and says “I couldn’t come to school today on my scooter and wear my helmet because it would mess up my hair”.

Child1 (to Miss Nan): “Can you tell the other teachers that we have disappeared and you don’t know where we are? Say we went on holiday but you don’t know which country…” Child2: “We could go to Austria with the baby?” Child1: “No, it’s better if Miss Nan doesn’t know where we go and we will hide, okay?” Child2: “Yes! Let’s go nowhere!”

Girl on her first day at school, having been helped by a teacher to cut an apple for snack: “Oooo. My apple has turned into a flower.” She told another teacher “We pushed and pushed on the apple until it became a flower.”

“I can feel a sneeze on the inside but not on the outside”

An ex-pupil talking to her mother: “Is Miss Felicity still the headmystery?”

Teacher describing the period before the Big Bang:
“There were no planets, no people, no animals…”
Little boy: “There were no play dates!”

Mum to daughter: “What do you think you’ll do at school today?”
Daughter: “It’s a surprise … every day is a surprise.”

She was a bit nervous on our way to St James (perhaps I was the one nervous!), and she said to me “Mummy I want to get back to Iverna Gardens on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday”. I said of course, and then she added “I want to go to Iverna Gardens until I am an adult”.